MAHONING COUNTY Officials plan sewer-line extension

BFI would pay most of the sewer installation cost.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Township trustees say they are looking forward to a quarter-mile extension of a sanitary-sewer line along Center Road this summer.
"It's one of the things that the entire township is really in need of. Anytime that you're dealing with upgrading the utilities to the citizens, it's a positive," said Trustee Robert J. Lidle Jr.
"The citizens that have lived on [U.S. Route] 224 have been asking for it," Trustee Annette DiVito said, referring to the sewer. "There's a lot of failing septics, and for business, it's probably better to have a sewer line than a septic system," she added.
Location
The trustees made their remarks after Tuesday's discussion of Browning Ferris Industries' plan to extend the line westward from its terminus just west of Lowellville Road at least to the office of Classic Heritage Tours Inc. at 6278 Center Road (U.S. Route 224), and perhaps further, if funding will allow.
In a 1998 agreement with the township and Mahoning County, BFI had agreed to install the eight-inch line in exchange for permission to accept additional refuse in its Carbon Limestone Landfill on State Line Road. But the project was delayed by the need to bypass a property owner who wouldn't grant an easement for the sewer, according to Mike Heher, general manager of BFI's landfill.
The extension planned for this summer will cost between $90,000 and $100,000, with BFI committing $75,000 toward the project. BFI has applied to the Mahoning County Solid Waste District for a grant of $13,000 to $14,000 to buy recycled plastic pipe for the project, and Lowellville may also contribute toward the installation, Heher said.
Sewage from the new pipe will be treated by the Lowellville sewage treatment plant, and Lowellville will charge each household an $800 tap-in fee, followed by a $21 monthly sewer use fee. Heher said he wasn't sure how much the business tap-in fee would be.
What law requires
According to state law, residents and businesses within 200 feet of the new sewer line, who now use septic systems, will be required to tap in to the sewer at their own expense within six months after its completion. During an information session, Heher said the Ohio EPA has low-interest loans available to help homeowners tap in.
Noting that residents would have to pay for pipe installation and filling in their septic systems, John Kotchmar, owner of the Dairy 224 store on Center Road, suggested that BFI or the township pay the tap-in fees.
But DiVito said it wouldn't be fair for trustees to pay tap in costs for this project, because they'd then have to pay such fees for everyone else that had to tap into a new sewer.
Doug Susany of Kennedy Road said the BFI installation is a bargain compared with what a county-installed system would cost township residents. "If your septic system fails, it's in the neighborhood of $8,000 to $10,000 to replace a septic system," he added.
DiVito said residents near the planned sewer line extension would receive notices of another meeting at which complete details of the project will be presented.